


Broken Hearts and a Broken Phone

by Pridia



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comfort, Complicated Relationships, Confessions, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s04e04 The Sontaran Stratagem, Episode: s04e05 The Poison Sky, F/M, Feelings Realization, Heartache, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Language, Post-Episode AU: s04e03 Planet of the Ood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-23 12:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11989677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pridia/pseuds/Pridia
Summary: The Doctor heavily regrets the way he has acted around Martha back when she was travelling with him, he just never shows it. Scared by the prophecy of Ood Sigma and confronted by a ringing phone, he can't keep his emotions in anymore. In his moment of weakness, he confesses his feelings for his ex-companion to Donna. Now, what will Donna do with this information?Set mostly between Planet of the Ood and The Sontaran Stratagem but will most likely continue until somewhere after the end of the Doctor's Daughter





	1. Now I Can Feel Your Pain

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooooooo.... it's been over two months since I've last posted anything..... woops....  
> Anyway here I am with yet another extremely long one shot that can't be a called a one shot anymore..... more woops....  
> The idea was to make this into a small one shot with only two of the factors it has now, well maybe three:  
> 1\. Heartbroken Doctor.  
> 2\. Broken Phone.  
> 3\. Donna finding out about his feelings.
> 
> The story I have now contains all of the above and more......... I just haven't quite defined more yet nor have I decided whether Martha and The Doctor will actually end up together.  
> Most likely not if I don't continue this story after I stopped at where I'm planning to stop.
> 
> I don't know how many chapters this thing is going to get, I'm hoping to stay below the 5, but knowing myself I think 10 would be a safer bet. Yours truly tends to make stories a lot longer than they plan to make them *looks at the huge list of other stories that should've stayed below the 1000 words sheepishly, which isn't that huge as I haven't written that many stories yet to be honest.*
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title was kinda inspired by the song Pain by Hollywood Undead. the real line is: now I can see your pain.  
> I only chose this because the song ended up stuck in my head while thinking up the title. *grins sheepishly*

The Doctor sat on the captain's chair in the console room, he was bent over and his hands were clasped together in between his knees. He was thinking.

Well, to be honest, keeping himself from panicking is a more accurate description.

They had just gotten back from the Ood Sphere and Donna had directly gone to her room while murmuring something about taking a nice hot bath. The Doctor was sending the TARDIS into the vortex but meanwhile, he found that he just couldn't put Ood Sigma's cryptic message out of his head.

_I think your song must end soon._

He knew that Ood Sigma wouldn't have bothered saying this if it didn't have some sort of meaning, he just didn't know what it was and that was what bothered him.

It scared him even.

He could think of several things this message could mean and none of them was good news. The Time Lord couldn't help but shiver at the thought of some of them.

He also couldn't help but think about the last time he had gotten a similar message during his early days with Martha.

He had taken Martha to New Earth that fateful day. It had been supposed to be a fun day out, but it had been anything but fun. Martha had been kidnapped and had nearly  _died._  Yet, he knew that she wasn't angry with her captors, she had actually felt sorry for them when she had learned why they had done it. Martha had told him that much later while they were stuck in 1969, he was really proud of her capability to forgive and actually feel sorry for them. Most of his other companions would most likely only have managed to forgive at the most. They still had kidnapped her and nearly caused her to  _die_  after, honestly, he didn't know if he himself could ever forgive them for that somedayay.

Later on that day he and Martha had watched the Face of Boe die together later that day and their old friend had told them his last secret.

_But know this, Time Lord. You are not alone._

Back then The Doctor had had no idea what it meant and now that he knew he wished he didn't. He didn't understand why Jack did this to him, why would he tell him something like that if it would turn out so badly? He knew he couldn't ask Jack this now and would most likely never be able to get his answer from the immortal.

What he didn't know yet that Jack hadn't meant the return of the Master with his message.

But that day Martha had also shown her stubborn side, practically demanding him to answer her questions. With anyone else he would've stayed silent, probably would've just walked away after they had sat down on that chair, they would've followed him eventually, not wanting to be stranded on an alien planet. But there was something about Martha that often made him tell her some of his darkest secrets and that night had been the first time he had done such a thing.

He told her about Gallifrey and The Last Great Time War

Right as he started talking to her, he realised that he wanted her as a companion but stupid him had pushed the thought away immediately and had kept towing her along like some sort of stray puppy.

Something she absolutely  _was not._

 _C_ ompared to Martha Jones, he was probably the stray puppy  _himself_.

Martha had comforted him when he inevitably had started to cry while telling her about Gallifrey, it had been too much for him. She had guided him back to the TARDIS and had led him towards the library and had ended up just holding him as he had sobbed over the losses during the war.

It was a wonder that she had actually been able to find the library on her own as she had only been there once during the quick tour he had given her the previous day. Most companions needed days, if not weeks, to figure out how the TARDIS worked, she had this habit of changing the corridors about.

But somehow this didn't affect Martha, it never had. The TARDIS always provided just what she wanted or needed. The TARDIS wasn't that considerate towards him even though he had been with her for more than  _500 years._ The Doctor had never been able to feel jealous about this, though. Martha deserved the best of treatment, not that he had given it to her, more likely the opposite of that. The TARDIS genuinely liked Martha and had tried to make up for his misbehaviour as well, he had known that back then already but only had admitted it to himself after she had put him in his place like she had and left his side.

Even though he never treated her as he should've had, she had always been there to comfort him when needed. Which actually had happened quite a lot when he thought about it. Martha had climbed into his bed when he had had a nightmare after the whole ordeal on the SS Pentallian to comfort him and helped him go back to sleep. He knew that it secretly had been an excuse from her to get comfort from him as well, she had had a close call on the ship herself and he was certain that he had scared her a bit while he was infected.

It had become a bit of a habit, whenever one of them awoke the other during a nightmare, or occasionally, in The Doctor's case, the TARDIS alerted him that Martha was having a nightmare. The awoken one would climb into the bed of the one that had had the nightmare to comfort them. He knew that Martha sometimes had faked a nightmare to get him into her bed just because she didn't want to sleep alone, he never confronted her as he had been guilty of the same thing. It would've been hypocritical of him to call her out. This eventually resulted in them sharing a bed almost every night, not minding the fact that the Time Lord didn't need to sleep as much as his human companion. He often ended up watching her, even though he knew that it was completely wrong of him to do that. He just couldn't stop himself from doing it, it calmed him.

The Doctor took a deep calming breath as he ran his hands over his face, right now he was everything but calm. Only now his fear of what Ood Sigma told him started to truly hit home. He wished Martha was here, she would know how to make him feel better, she always did. But she wasn't here and would most likely never be here again.

The Time Lord got startled out of his thoughts by a bleep on the console, he looked up at the screen to see what was wrong. But instead of finding something wrong he saw that lights were indicating to one of the small lockers on the console that was normally not visible.

"You want me to open that?" He wondered out loud.

The lights blinked indicating a positive answer.

The Doctor sighed and got up, not having the energy to argue against his ship at that moment. He walked over towards the console and opened the locker.

 _Martha's phone._ The Time Lord felt his hearts drop to his stomach at the sight of this, knowing what his beautiful but stubborn ship was suggesting.

" _No!_ " he exclaimed, but he picked up the phone anyway and walked back over to the captain's chair and flopped back down on it.

The TARDIS wanted him to call Martha and, if he was honest with himself, he wanted to call her himself. Martha would be able to help him feel better. She could make everyone feel better.

But did he have the right to call her? She had given him the phone so  _she_ could call  _him_! Not the other way round.

 _Why would've Martha put her new number in the contacts if you're not allowed to call it?_ The treacherous voice in his head pointed out. That voice always tried to convince him on acting on his feelings.

 _She put it there in case I needed help! I can't just call her without a reason!_ The Doctor argued against the voice.

 _But you need her help._ The voice argued again.

The Time Lord sighed.

 _I don't deserve her help._ He thought back sadly.

 _Martha would never deny you help._ The voice argued.

The Doctor smiled to himself and once again wondered whether he was crazy for arguing against himself.

Well, most people would classify him as crazy anyway, wouldn't they?

 _She wouldn't, she's too good for that. But I have to_   _deal with this on my own. I have no right to call her and disturb her life again. She's too good to deny help to a complete arse who not only destroyed her life but also broke her heart. After everything, calling her for something this small would be selfish._ He could feel tears forming in his eyes, but fought them.

The voice stayed silent this time.

Satisfied with his result he looked down at the phone and started turning it around in his hands.

He had royally screwed up things with Martha, he would never be able to make up for all the things he had done to her.

 _You could always start with apologizing_ The voice started again.

Knowing that the voice was right The Doctor sighed again and opened the phone going to the contact list.

Once he found Martha's number he hesitated.

What would he even say? How lame is apologizing over the phone anyway? Should he tell her his true feelings?

_Better not._

Martha probably would never want anything to do with him ever again once he told her how he felt about her, not after how he had acted like it wasn't that way the whole time she had known him. Especially not since he had acted like an arse while doing that.

There was nothing he could do to fix this!

He closed the phone again.

The Time Lord felt so much anger at himself for what he had done, yet he also felt scared about the prophecy of Ood Sigma and facing Martha again in the future.

The Doctor let out a cry of frustration, he hands formed fists but he wasn't quite crushing the phone yet.

He couldn't do this. He could not face Martha, he would rather die.

 _Why did I have to be so god damn rude!_ He thought angrily to himself, he didn't realise that his breathing had become laboured by his emotions.

Then the phone rang.

It was the last straw. He ended up throwing the phone away as hard as he could, not feeling strong enough to deal with whatever it was that it wanted and somehow throwing the phone away felt like the only way to not have to deal with it.

The ringing stopped immediately after it hit one of the coral pillars.

Somewhere in the back of his mind the thought that Martha would be livid about the fact that he didn't just neglect to pick up the phone but also destroy said phone passed. But he couldn't find himself to care as he finally let out all the emotions he had kept carefully locked up after she had left and even some from before that.

He finally let himself cry.


	2. What Is Love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I present to you, chapter two of this way overshot one-shot. I have a bit of mixed feeling for this chapter. I'm satisfied with it while I'm not satisfied with it at the same time. I feel it's kinda out of character and might be repeating the same stuff in slightly different words. Nor am I sure if everything makes sense, feel free to let me know if it doesn't and I'll see about fixing that.
> 
> And again the chapter title has been inspired by a song, I think you can guess where it came from.
> 
> I don't know if I'll keep using songs for my chapter titles in the future, we'll see.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> ~ Pridia

Donna had just finished her bath and had gotten dressed in some comfy clothes, fully intending to spend some time in the huge living room with a nice cup of tea before heading to bed.

However, her plans got crushed when the TARDIS urged her towards the console room, so she headed there, thinking that it was her Spaceboy wanting her there for some sort of alien  _thing._

 _Okay, wasn't that what I signed up for?_ She sighed and headed towards the console room to see whatever it was the Martian wanted now. 

She hadn't expected to find him sobbing like there was no tomorrow. Donna was worried, to say the least, wondering what had reduced him to this sobbing mess.

"Doctor?" She called out cautiously. He looked up slightly startled for a second, then another round of sobs left his throat causing him to look away again.

She sighed in pity, she decided that it didn't matter what was making him this sad. At least, not now. Right now, he needed comfort.

Donna walked over towards him and sat down next to him on the captain's chair. Once she was settled she carefully guided him into her arms, trying to soothe him.

Eventually, his sobs died out but he couldn't quite bring himself to pull away out of Donna's arms. In the short time, he had been with Donna he had already developed a fondness of the fierce ginger woman. Not in the same way he was fond of Martha.  _Definitely not!_ He felt something akin to a sibling bond to Donna. It was something he had already started feeling that fateful day at her wedding. He still felt sorry for her about everything that had happened that day.

"You want to talk about it, Spaceman?" Donna's question distracted him from his thoughts.

He sighed.

"Not really." He admitted.

"You should know that it isn't good for you to keep your feelings locked up." Donna told him as she started running a hand through his hair. The Doctor stiffened at this and quickly lifted a hand to grab her wrist to stop her from doing this. Causing Donna to frown.

" _Don't_  do that!" He told her firmly. Only Martha had the right to touch his hair.

"Right, okay, sorry." Donna apologized to him and instead started running her hand over his back which he seemed to allow. "But you really don't want to talk about it?"

The Doctor laid there in silence for a bit, considering this.

"Have you..." He shifted a bit in Donna's arms and started again. "Have you ever messed something up so badly that you just..." He paused searching for words. "Just..." He sighed. "That you just can't forget about it?" He finished his question lamely. "Like, life seems to want to remind you of that one thing, that one thing you just... let go... and just wants to rub it in your face." He ended his sentence with an irritated voice.

Donna sighed. Yes, she had. An example was her saying no to travelling with him that first time. She just wasn't sure if it was a good idea to bring that one up again. She decided not to risk it.

"Yes, I have" She answered simply. Wondering just what it was he had done. He had also said that he had let go whatever it was, which suggested that he had let an opportunity slip. Something he heavily regretted now. Apparently bad enough to reduce him to a sobbing mess.

"What did you do?" She asked after a few moments of silence.

"I..." He sat up and ran a hand over his face. "It's stupid." He mumbled.

"Everyone makes stupid mistakes, Doctor." Donna told him softly.

He sighed. "I know."

"Tell me." She encouraged him.

He looked at her for a moment in consideration then looked down at his hands in his lap.

"It's a bit of a long story." He mumbled, he looked slightly sideways towards Donna. "and well... it's kinda... personal..." He shifted uncomfortably. He was afraid of Donna's reaction to what he had done to Martha. More importantly on how she would react to him owning up to his feelings, he wasn't quite capable of defining them and had no idea how deep they actually went. He did, however, understand them enough to not want to tell anyone about them, he shouldn't be feeling this!

Donna nodded, sensing that he was scared to tell her. So she suspected that whatever it was, he was extremely embarrassed about it and obviously devastated because of it.

"I won't make fun of you, Doctor. Whatever it is." She told him trying to reassure him. "I promise."

He nodded and took a deep breath.

"You know, it wasn't just a one-time thing. It's something that I kept doing without realising the … damage I was doing. Well, I actually knew. I just … didn't think that … I would regret it." He frowned. "But I do, I regret it  _so_ much. It hurts, it just hurts and … " He raised his feet to rest on the chair and hugged his knees with his arms, needing to hold something. He kept silent for a while fighting his raging emotions. Donna started to rub his back comfortingly, sensing that he just needed time and to talk.

"I know I'm not the only one who I hurt." He finally said barely above a whisper then dug his face into his knees when he broke down again. Thinking about what he had done to Martha hurt  _so_  much. But he had hurt her worse, so he kinda deserved this.

Donna pulled him into a hug again and kept rubbing his back waiting for him to calm down again. The thought that he didn't deserve Donna's comfort passed through his mind, but he found that he was too broken to care. Even about something like  _that._  He was known for his self-pitying after all.

What Donna had gathered from reading between the lines he had hurt somebody and that was what hurt him. She just wondered what he felt for them, what kind of relationship they had. Or could've had. And exactly what it was he had done. She knew that in order to get those answers she was going to need to ask him specific questions as he was obviously having a hard time talking about it and on his own he would just keep being vague about what had happened.

_He obviously didn't like talking about it._

"Who did you hurt?" She asked softly once he had relaxed a bit again.

She felt him tense back up immediately.

"Well... I …. errrr" He started hesitantly.

"Doctor it's okay. Just tell me." She encouraged him.

He buried his face into her shoulder for a moment before he eventually mumbled.

"Martha." Donna nearly missed it but fortunately for The Doctor, she didn't, otherwise he would've had to repeat it. She did frown at this revelation, though.

 _Didn't he say that **she**  fancied him!?_ She wondered. _He never said anything about it being a two-way street, now did he?_

She shook her head mentally.

_Am I really wondering why **The Doctor** didn't admit his feelings earlier? How stupid can I be! He never admits to his feelings._

She looked down at the heartbroken mess currently in her arms.

 _Okay, almost never._ She corrected herself and realised that she had been silent for a bit now, something which probably wasn't helping his nerves.

_Besides, I **am** assuming things._

"What do you feel for her?" She asked gently, she had to figure out just how bad he had screwed this up and what 'this' exactly was.

The Doctor moved away from Donna's arms and sat next to her.

"I... She..." He paused in thought. "I'm not quite sure... I... I've never felt the same with anyone else before. Like... I don't know... I've found myself telling her things about me I've never told anyone before and …. and... since she left … I just..." He let out a whimper and buried his head in his hands, Donna started rubbing his back in comfort again while waiting for him to finish.

"I just miss her so much." He finally whispered.

Then this silence hung between them. The Doctor was fighting his emotions and Donna was considering what she had just been told and what to say. Obviously, he was confused about his feelings but it was obvious to Donna that he loved that girl, something he still hadn't realised himself. She felt that it was probably better if he realised his feelings.

 _At least I didn't assume things wrongly._ Donna couldn't help but think

"Could you actually be in love with her?" She suggested cautiously.

The Time Lord stiffened at that. This was an idea he had always hastily pushed to the back of his mind when he had wondered it himself. which admittedly had happened way too often. But Donna now forced him to really consider the possibility and now that he was doing this he realised something important.

He couldn't run away from the truth any longer.

" _Yes, I love her."_


	3. I Wish it Would Just Go Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! here we are again.  
> I decided to stick to my songs and the song of this chapter is I See Red by Thousand Foot Krutch. Just because I like the song and this is the only song containing a line I could connect to this chapter.  
> Currently, I'm a bit debating what I'm going to do with this. I've got a clear path up until the aftermath of The Doctor's Daughters.  
> I just haven't decided whether I'll make Martha join The Doctor and Donna in the rest of series 4 or whether I'll just bring her back at key points in the series.  
> I do know I'd love to play with Martha being in TUATW and well that would require her joining the TARDIS once again.  
> But we're still a couple of chapters away from that decision so I'll just chew it over a bit longer.  
> Also, my grammar corrector programme was a pain in the arse, it kept contradicting itself, for example:  
> Grammar corrector programme: 'Delete this comma'  
> Me: *Deletes comma*  
> Grammar corrector programma: 'No wait, put a comma here."  
> Me: *Does that.*  
> Grammar corrector programma: 'What the hell are you doing?! there can't be a comma there!'  
> Me: 'Just make up your bloody mind already! do you want a comma there or not!!!!?'
> 
> Sorry for that bit of ramble, I needed to let out my frustration regarding the topic out.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Donna was shocked of the Time Lord's revelation, sure she had guessed it almost as soon as he had started talking about his feelings, but to learn that it actually was the truth!?

She wondered what exactly had happened between him and Martha, sure the Time Lord had told her that the girl had fancied him but now that she knew that he actually loved her, that comment meant something completely different.

Whatever had happened, her alien friend seemed to heavily regret it, suggesting that he was the one who messed this up.

 _No surprise there._ Donna thought to herself.  _He seems to have a degree in rudeness._

"What happened between you two?" She finally asked.

The Time Lord sighed.

"A lot."

"Can you narrow that down a bit?" She requested.

"It's my fault." He supplied unhelpfully.

Donna sighed mentally.

"A bit more would be helpful." She tried to get more information out of him.

"I..." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I ignored her, destroyed her life, belittled her, had her do these terrible jobs." He blurted out.

Donna blinked at him.

_Saying that he screwed this up doesn't even scratch the surface and wait a minute..._

"You destroyed her  _life_!?" She questioned shocked.

" _Yes_!" The Doctor exclaimed while trying to contain his guilt and pain. He sucked in some air and buried his head in his hands.

Donna started rubbing his back, trying to comfort him once again. She decided against asking him just how he had destroyed Martha's life just yet. She did suspect that he was probably blaming himself for something outside his power, something he actually wasn't guilty of. She was 99.9 percent certain that he felt that way about what had happened with Lance.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked silently once he had calmed down

"I don't know." he mumbled as he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Donna wondered.

He didn't answer her as he walked over to where Martha's phone had landed.

It had broken into two bigger pieces and a lot of smaller pieces.

He sighed and bend down to pick up the remains of the phone, in the meantime Donna had gotten up as well and followed him.

"I should probably just leave it, get over it." He said quietly as he put the pieces on the console to have a good look at the damage.

"Your feelings won't just go away." Donna pointed out.

"Could always wish for it." He chuckled humourlessly.

"Wish all your like sweetheart, but this isn't some sort of fantasy land where all your wishes come true, this is the real hard world." Donna told him seriously, causing The Doctor to finally look up from the broken phone.

"I know." He whispered and then quickly turned back towards the phone. "I know how to deal with it, though, I've still got 900 years of experience."

"900!?" Donna exclaimed, causing The Doctor to frown.

"Right, I never told you my age before, did I?" he wondered.

"NO! You're  _nine-hundred_ years old?" At the Time Lord's nod, she continued a bit bemused. _"_ Well, isn't that wizard. What is that anyway?" Donna decided to change the subject.

"Well, this  _used_ to be a phone." He answered frustrated, he apparently had been very thorough in breaking said phone.

"What happened to it? It can't just have fallen into thousand pieces, can it?" Donna wondered.

"I threw it." He admitted.

"Where did you do that for?" She exclaimed.

He just looked at her, not answering. She noticed his eyes glazing over and she could clearly see the pain in them. Her face softened as she put two and two together.

 _He must've thrown it out of frustration, probably not too long before the breakdown five minutes ago._  

She sighed and walked over towards him to pull him into another hug, seeing that he needed it.

"Why don't you just leave that phone for later? Hmm? When you're feeling a bit better?" she suggested.

"I can't." he answered weakly.

"Why not?" Donna asked as she started rubbing his back soothingly once again. Honestly, when she had invited herself into the TARDIS she hadn't expected to be in her current situation, dealing with a Time Lord in his current state. Not that she would complain, mind you! Everyone has their flaws, even the man who seems to be carrying the universe on his shoulders and usually toughens out anything that makes him seem mortal.

"It was ringing." He whispered as he finally lifted his hands to rest on her back.

"And you need to call back whoever was calling." Donna finished for him.

"Yeah." He whispered. "It's not like a lot of people have that number, actually."

"How many people have got that number?" Donna wondered.

"One that I know of." He moved out of the hug and went to the display screen of the console.

"Who?" He looked back at her.

"Martha." He said slightly louder than a whisper. "She gave me that phone just before leaving. Saying that if it started ringing I'd better come running. She'll kill me if I don't start running anytime soon." He rambled. "That is if it was actually her who called."

"How can you figure that out if your phone is broken?" Donna wondered, sensing that, for now, he had pushed his emotions to the side.

"The TARDIS should be able to pull up a call history of the number connected to the phone. And I do know my number and Martha's number," He wasn't going to admit that he had learned Martha's number because he had been on the verge of calling her several times before, had pulled up the contact information and then just had proceeded to look at the phone number until he would finally push himself away from calling.

This 'habit' did come in handy now, though.

"Let me see." He muttered as he pulled up the information he was looking for and found out that it had indeed been Martha who had called him roughly half an hour ago.

"That's Martha's number." He confirmed to Donna. "She's gonna kill me for not answering the phone." He paused to look at the broken. "And then probably a second time because I broke the phone."

"You'd better call her back." Donna suggested.

"YES! That's it! I never would've thought of that myself. With what  _phone!?_ The one that's lying there in thousands of pieces?! Yes, that's going to work!" He snapped sarcastically. Donna sighed mentally but wasn't angry at his outburst, something she normally would be. She knew that he was hurt and probably scared of the prospect of having to talk to Martha after everything that happened, that is what had happened between them in the past and earlier tonight.

"I could get my mobile from my room," Donna offered then frowned. "Don't think it's got a signal here though."

He smiled slightly at Donna, it was genuine but didn't quite reach his eyes, but Donna would count it as a good sign considering the situation.

"I can give it universal roaming through an upgrade, so that won't be a problem." He assured her.

"So, should I get my phone?" She asked, he nodded in response and she ran off quickly to get it.

While Donna was gone The Doctor inhaled deeply, he had never been so open about his feelings before. He always heavily guarded his feelings from anyone else, his resolve had crumbled a bit around Martha when he would talk about his past. But, the wall he had carefully build around his feelings had just been broken down by the force of a wrecking ball and he was already working hard on rebuilding it

He heard Donna coming back and quickly tried to push away his current strain of thought.

"Got it." She said as she stood in front of him, trying to catch her breath.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

He grabbed the offered phone and quickly got to work on upgrading it when he was done he put in Martha's number. However, as he was about to push the call button he hesitated and looked at Donna.

"What do I say?" He asked in this small voice.

"Just call her, Spaceman." She told him. "Just say what feels right."

"But what if that's the wrong thing to say?" He looked so insecure that it broke Donna's heart. She had gotten to care about him a lot. No, not in a  _romantic_  way! She suppressed a shudder at the mere thought of bedding him. She felt something akin to a sibling bond to the Spaceman, she felt protective of him. A bit like she would've felt about a little brother.

"Just get it over with." She told him.

He nodded at Donna, then inhaled deeply trying to gather the little courage he had and pushed the call button.

He had never realised just how nerve wrecking the dial tone of the phone was. Luckily for The Time Lord's nerves, Martha answered on the third ring.

"Martha Jones speaking." He couldn't help but smile at hearing her voice again after such a long time.

"Hey, Martha Jones." He somehow managed not to sound nervous, even though he really was. 

_What was she going to say?!_

"Doctor?!" Martha exclaimed surprised, having recognised his voice.

"Yup, that's me. I believe you called me, although, considering time travel and all, I'm not sure how long..." He began but got interrupted.

"That was like 5 minutes ago." Martha told him.

"Oh, that's errr... it's been roughly 30 minutes for me." He rubbed his neck nervously.

"I'd like to hear what caused you to be unable to pick up your phone and then end up calling me with a different number half an hour later." Martha said, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

_What was he going to say?!_

"But, I actually called because I'm bringing you back to Earth, we can save that conversation for later." The Doctor suppressed a sigh of relief, at least now he had time to come up with something that made sense and doesn't mention him having a breakdown.

Martha gave him a time and place, then made him promise to be there, when satisfied she hung up.

The Time Lord gave Donna her phone back.

"So, how did that go then, Spaceman?" Donna wondered him.

"This was more of a business call, sounded like she didn't have much time. I'll talk to her properly later." He sniffed. "Anyway, she gave me a time and a place."

"Right, we're not going there now, it's already been a long day and we're not going to make it unnecessary longer. We're heading to bed and then face whatever Martha has in store tomorrow."

"Okay, but a small correction. You're heading to bed, not me." He said, even though he felt exhausted. He knew that with everything that was going on right now, he was guaranteed to have a nightmare and he didn't feel like getting one.

"Didn't think so Spaceman, you're tired. Don't try to deny it." She added when he opened his mouth to protest. He hung his head in defeat.

"I don't want to sleep." He mumbled to himself, just loud enough for Donna to hear who pulled him in for another hug.

"I think you do want to sleep, you're just afraid of the nightmares, aren't you?" Donna guessed and he nodded in confirmation.

Donna sighed and considered options, he  _needed_ to sleep.

"Okay, now go get ready for bed and I'll be at your door with a solution in 15 minutes." She told him as she led him towards his room where she left him to get changed, then she quickly went to her own room, quickly put on some pyjamas, then dug into her closet in search for the thing that would help her alien friend sleep.

"Aha!" She exclaimed when she finally found it, then slowly headed towards the Time Lord's room with it in her arm.

The Doctor opened the door just after her third knock, wearing striped pyjamas.

"Donna, what do you think will help m-" He trailed off as he saw what was in her arms, he looked her in the eyes and raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Really?"

Donna looked down at the huge pink teddy bear in her arms and shrugged. "She helped me with my nightmares a lot when I was younger, sometimes she still does, to be honest. Don't see why you can't try if it works for you."

"Err..." he hesitated. "But don't you need that bear?"

"Not tonight, you can borrow it. If it works we'll just get you your own bear." This caused a big smile to form on his face.

"Oh, Donna Noble, you're brilliant."

"I have my moments." She reacted modestly.

"No, I mean it, you're always brilliant." She shook her head in denial causing him to emphasize a bit more. "Really, absolutely brilliant, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Donna didn't react to him, just offered the teddy to the Time Lord, who grabbed it and gave it a hug to test it out.

"Oh, that feels nice." As he found himself unwillingly to let it go just yet.

"I know, you'll be alright tonight?" Donna wondered.

"I think so." he said as he stopped hugging the bear.

"Okay, see you in the morning then, night Doctor." She said as she turned to head towards her room.

"Night Donna." He said as he closed the door of his room again.

Then went towards his bed and put the bear below the covers before he climbed below them himself and hugged it to himself.

He was surprised at how comfortable this was, he felt something akin to what he used to feel when he shared the bed with Martha. A feeling of warmth and safety.

The Time Lord fell asleep with a smile that night and the huge pink bear was successful at keeping the nightmares at bay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor is searching the comfort of a huge pink and fluffy teddy bear *smiles smugly* I love it! This was not my first idea on how to deal with The Doctor's nightmares but the first idea didn't work out at all. But this is just great. I wanted to name the bear but I'm absolutely terrible in naming my creations, so this is unnamed pink bear the fifth. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you guys next chapter. Well, probably not considering that we don't exactly talk face to face, nor in real time tbh. I just post this here and you guys read it sometime later and sometimes bother to comment things that make me smile, most of the times at least.


	4. What I've Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo...... this chapter took over a month to be written and honestly it's pretty much without plot development...... errr.... I'm sorry? *looks sheepish*. I'm promising something more akin to plot development next chapter, which in my current tempo will be uploaded in like 3 years *smiles apologetically*  
> Oh and the song for this chapter is What I've Done by Linkin Park.... please don't ask me how difficult it is to find songs that fit the chapters...

The Doctor woke up well rested and completely snuggled into the huge pink teddy bear Donna had given him. He hummed happily to himself, he hadn't felt this content since Martha had left.

_Martha!_

He shot up in terror as he remembered the appointment with Martha, he and Donna had today. Then his senses told him what the time was and he realised that Donna was probably up and waiting for him already.

" _Damnit!_ " He exclaimed and tried to untangle himself from the sheets but ended up rolling off the bed and hit his head against the corner of his nightstand.

He groaned in pain and lifted his hand towards his head. He hissed as he felt a bruise forming.

"Bloody brilliant." He muttered annoyed.

Then he remembered that he had been in a hurry like 5 seconds ago, quickly freed himself from the sheets and hurried to the bathroom, where he quickly shed his pyjamas and jumped into the shower, sure he was late but he found that he wanted to look decent in front of Martha and after what had happened yesterday he really needed a shower.

After he had cleaned himself he quickly towelled himself dry and went back to his room to get dressed, he didn't bother to tie the towel around his waist as it would just be a waste of time, besides no one would come into his room to see him anyway.

Unfortunately, he was mistaken in that thought.

This is something he realised when he heard a knock, then the opening of his door and at last a squeak which could only belong to one person.

He let out a squeak himself, mind you, a very manly one if you asked him, and quickly tried to cover himself with his hands.

"Donna!" He looked into her shocked eyes, he was sure that the same look was in his own eyes as well.

"Where are your  _pants_?!" Donna exclaimed as she tried to keep her eyes on his upper half.

"errr. I suppose in my pants drawer?" He squeaked, he really hadn't planned on Donna seeing him in his birth costume, then again why would he plan on something like  _that!?_. "But what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, it was getting late and I wanted to check and see whether you were still sleeping, obviously, you're not. Find me in the kitchen once you're … err .. decent." She told him and then quickly fled from the room.

"Brilliant." The Time Lord mumbled as he ran a hand over his face embarrassed. The same had happened with Martha a lot of times, especially when they had shared that small flat in 1969, it had almost become a pattern in their life. Back then at least once a week one of them walked in on the other. If he was honest he had yet to decide whether he had hated that pattern or had loved it.

He however certainly hoped that he wouldn't develop a similar pattern with  _Donna._ He shuddered at the thought and quickly got dressed and left for the kitchen.

* * *

When he walked into the kitchen he noticed that Donna had prepared breakfast for the both of them and was sitting down at the table, already eating her food. The Time Lord sat down awkwardly across of her and quietly started on his own breakfast. It hadn't been this uncomfortable when this had first happened with Martha, they had actually ended up bursting out laughing about it a couple of minutes after he had been dressed again.

 _I really need to stop comparing this to what happened with Martha._ He chastised himself, he had a whole different relationship with Martha than with Donna.

Eventually, it was Donna who broke the awkward silence by clearing her throat.

"I'm ... err I'm sorry about earlier, Doctor." She mumbled slightly, blushing.

This caused him to blush as well.

"It's fine." He faked a smile. "Could we just..." He didn't know how to continue that sentence.

"Forget about it?" Donna suggested.

"Yeah." He cleared his throat and continued to eat quietly.

"So, we're going to Martha after breakfast?" Donna asked.

He gulped but nodded anyway. Donna noticed his nerves and sighed.

"You'll be okay Doctor, it will go fine." She encouraged him.

"You don't know that, if I mess this up she'll just end up hating me more than she already  _does!_ " He exclaimed.

"Why would she hate you? " Donna wondered.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I destroyed the lives of her family, traumatized them, treated her like a piece of shit, interrupted her while she berated me for it errr... made her work in a shop, had her working as a maid in 1913 while dealing with racism and do you want me to go  _on!?_ " He rambled out.

Donna mentally sighed for what felt like the millionth time in the past 24 hours, sure he had given her a bit more information about what had happened with Martha, but she honestly didn't know what to do to comfort him anymore, she didn't know Martha and had no idea how forgiving she could be.

"Doctor, how many of these things could you actually help?" She asked him "How many of the things you just listed, are actually  _caused_ by something you did?"

He considered it for a moment and then mumbled his answer.

"Two."

"Don't count something caused by the same mindset twice!" She berated him.

"Okay, one then." He amended. "It's pretty big though."

"Maybe, but I think the fact that you're sorry will help to get forgiven." She told him and continued talking before he could object. She knew very well that her advise was absolutely useless, but she couldn't think of anything better. "Now then, I think it's better if we go, better get this done and over with, right?" She started walking off towards the console room. "You coming?!" She turned back to The Doctor when she noticed that he wasn't following.

He gulped and mumbled a quick affirmation before following Donna towards the console room.

* * *

The TARDIS landed with her usual thump and The Doctor was seen trying to gather his guts once again. Donna mentally sighed once more, she was glad that this would soon be over.

"Come on Doctor, she'll be waiting." She encouraged him. "It will be okay."

"You keep saying that Donna." He complained.

"Because it's true." She told him. "Now get your skinny arse out there!"  _and face the lions._ She mentally added, but wisely didn't say out loud.

The Time Lord nodded and took one last deep breath before opening the doors to go and meet Martha.


	5. My Hearts Are Breaking Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo... Guess who's back? Well not me, I'm sure that if you look at my browser history you'll notice that I've been on this site at least once a day in the last idk how long, which is probably actually the explanation as of why it takes me so long to update stories....... ehhhh...... I'm sorry? But I don't actually regret it...
> 
> I know there isn't too much plot in this, unlike I promised, I'm sorry!!!
> 
> And if I keep saying sorry this often I'll change into Ten eventually.
> 
> Anyway, the song of this chapter is Unbroken by Ashes Remain. I edited the line slightly to fit Time Lord biology and I might use more lines from this song as chapter titles in the future, this song fits MarthaXDoctor perfectly, can we have a vid of it already? well, *launches video edit program* I'm working on it. Expect it to exist in erm roughly 10 years.

"Martha Jones." She was the first thing The Doctor noticed as he left the TARDIS.

"Doctor." She said back, a smile forming on her face, causing him to automatically smile back and his hearts to skip a beat.

Though he felt much more at ease than he had a couple of seconds ago before leaving the TARDIS, he still wasn't sure what to say, or how to act. He eventually settled on rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Martha noticed his discomfort and decided to not let him suffer.

"Oh, come here you." She said as she opened her arms to him.

He smiled and walked towards her opening his arms as well, they met each other halfway in a hug.

"You haven't changed a bit!" He exclaimed overjoyed to have her in his arms again, he really hoped that Martha didn't notice how his hearts had sped up from being near her again.

"Neither have you!" She told him back, though it was a lie, in the small moment before they had hugged she had seen this unfamiliar look in the Time Lord's eyes. She wasn't sure what it was, but if she had to describe it she would go for lost, hurt and something else, it somehow reminded her of longing.

 _No!_ she mentally shook her head.  _He's The Doctor he never longs for anything! Well,... Except for banana's_

She was pulled out of her reverie as The Doctor asked about her family.

"You know, not so bad. Recovering." She answered his question, he nodded his understanding.

"What about you?" He asked her.

"I'm okay, passed my exams, with help of UNIT." She told him smugly. "What about you then?"

"I'm fine." He answered a bit too quickly. "Just... same old life... you know." He added awkwardly trying to mask his mistake.

Of course, Martha noticed that he was lying. She had spent more than a year with him, after all, and that was more than enough to get to know some of his habits. And with the incident with the phone earlier and the fact that he was acting a bit off, she couldn't help but be extremely worried about his well-being.

However, she didn't get the chance to question him about it, as the door of the TARDIS opened once again just as she was about to speak again.

She noticed Donna and instantly put two and two together.

"Oh, you've already got a new companion then." She stated, she was glad that he wasn't alone anymore. Him being on his own was never a good idea, more likely the complete opposite.

"Uhhm... Yeah. Martha, Donna. Donna Martha." He introduced them. "Now, please don't fight, I can't bear fighting." He added pleadingly.

"Huh, you wish Spaceman," Donna answered mockingly as she walked towards Martha to shake her hand, the Time Lord noticed something he instantly wished he hadn't as they did so.

_Martha was wearing an engagement ring!_

He quickly looked away from the ring and swallowed hard, trying to push down his emotions, something that was very hard when one's hearts just got shattered by a wrecking ball at the speed of light.

"I've heard all about you," Donna told her.

"I dread to think," Martha said quickly glancing at the Time Lord, noticing he was acting weirdly again, he looked hurt or something, she couldn't quite place it. she decided not to mention it.

"No, no, no. No. He says nice things. Good things. Nice things. Really... good things." Donna tried to make it better but actually made it worse, even though she was telling the truth.

"Oh my god, he's told you everything." Martha's eyes widened in realisation and the Time Lord awkwardly ran his hand through his hair as he groaned in embarrassment.

"Not everything!" He exclaimed indignantly.

Martha raised an eyebrow at him and he caved instantly.

"Almost everything." He admitted glaring at Donna for messing up.

"That's what I thought," Martha mumbled.

In the meantime, Donna had noticed the engagement ring as well and was debating whether to bring it up, the topic would certainly hurt her alien friend, although she was rather certain he had noticed said ring. He looked uncomfortable and hurt, heartbroken she might say, less broken than yesterday, but more broken than just a minute ago.

But she knew that this conversation had to happen sometime.

_Best to get it over with._

"So, tell me, who's the lucky man?" She asked Martha and pointedly ignored the fact that the Time Lord took a deep breath to calm his emotions, at least that was what she suspected.

Martha raised her left hand to show the ring while smiling happily.

"Tom. Tom Milligan. Working out in Africa right now." She told them while remembering him.

"Wait, hang on, that name sounds familiar." The Doctor frowned in thought.

"He died on the last day of... you know..." Martha looked away uncomfortable, not wanting to talk about The Year That Never Was.

The Time Lord shared that sentiment and just nodded awkwardly. "Ah... Yeah... I remember."

Donna didn't know what they were talking about nor was she sure what to do with the two obviously uncomfortable humanoids.

Thankfully the awkward silence was broken by Martha's walkie-talkie.

"Dr Jones, report to base, please. Over." The voice said.

Martha grabbed her walkie-talkie to answer.

"This is Dr. Jones. Operation Blue Sky is a go, go, go. I repeat, this is a go!" Martha started walking away switched into her  _soldier-mode._

The Doctor's mouth was hanging open, sure he wasn't happy that Martha had changed into this soldier, but he couldn't help but find it hot, he always had liked it when she ordered him around, something that had happened a lot while they were stuck in 1969. But she had never quite looked this beauti-

Donna's elbow in his ribs startled him out of his musings and caused him to close his mouth again.

"Head out of the gutter spaceman." Donna berated him, as he rubbed the spot she had hit.

"Uhhmm... right... yeah..." He blushed and looked anywhere but her eyes, not even bothering to try and deny where his mind had wandered." Let's follow Martha." He said as he hastily did just that.

Donna shook her head, he was totally head over heels in love with that girl, just as he had admitted. Somehow she got the impression that the same went for Martha. Despite the fact that she was engaged, Donna was sure that they would end up together eventually.

Maybe not without a little push, but she would gladly provide said push.

Donna pushed her plans to the back of her mind and started to follow Martha as well.


	6. I'll Walk Through the Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooooo.... did you miss me? *looks guilty*  
> *scoffs* Of course, you didn't, you probably completely forgot about the existence of me and this story, or you just stumbled upon this terrible excuse of a story ;)  
> Anyway, I'm sorry for the... well I suppose you can call it unplanned hiatus and no updates for more than 6 months, I believe it actually hit 7 months.  
> But that unplanned hiatus went pretty much for my writing overall and not just this story, and I think I've found my muse again. Whether it will stay *shrugs* We'll see.  
> Anyway, this is the 'rewrite' of "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky". It's not really a rewrite as it's mostly the same as canon, so I skipped a lot, but hey! you're reading Doctor Who fanfiction, I'd say it's safe to assume that you know the plot of the canon episodes and if you don't I'm gonna wonder what the hell you're doing here.  
> I changed up some of the lines of the scenes I did add here because I liked it. All those scenes that are included are pretty much essential to the plot of this story and that's how I work with my rewrites of episodes, though I've added small summaries of the bits I skipped.  
> Anyway, that's all I have to say on this chapter.  
> Oh, and the song for this chapter is the same as it was for last chapter: Unbroken by Ashes Remain, and I promise that wasn't intentional, I just happened to chose a line from the same song, I did say that I probably would use that song again and well I did, though I didn't mean right away when I said that. But well, I did and in my defence, I chose the last title more than 6 months ago and forgot it was from that song until I listened to it again while editing this chapter ;)  
> Okay, now I'm really done, I hope you enjoy the chapter

The Doctor was livid, how dare the Sontarans lock up  _his_ Martha.

 _No no not mine!_  He corrected himself, he had no right to call Martha his.

His day had already been going bad, between dealing with the snubby boy Luke Rattigan who thought himself to be the best in the world, finding out Sontarans were trying to take over the world, nearly getting drowned by a van and almost having Donna's Granddad choking to death in a car, his mood had already foul before he had come back to the factory.

Then after getting Donna back into the TARDIS, he had come across Martha again, or at least  _clone_  Martha, he had noticed it immediately and not just because of the terrible horrible smell, it was all in the demeanor, he knew that Sontarans would copy memories of the original into their clones, but they could never make their clones exactly the same as the original, the clone always would act slightly different than the original.

And he might have been observing Martha Jones a lot while she was travelling with him, without her noticing. Not that he would ever that admit out loud. No, not even to Donna who he had already been forced to admit his feelings to.

The bottom line is that he noticed something was wrong the moment he had laid eyes on the clone before the stench even hit him.

And like said before he was pissed, there was no way he would let the Sontarans get away with this easily.

He hated that the only course of action he could take was continuing acting as if nothing was amiss while he wanted to scream bloody murder at the clone who was pretending to be Martha Jones. He couldn't do that, screaming, it would work against his plan to get the real Martha back, so he just settled for seething internally.

What made matters worse was, that right now he couldn't focus on saving Martha, he needed to stop the Sontarans from taking over Earth and killing all humans while he was at it. All of which were slowing down his rescue mission for Martha and he couldn't even  _complain_ about it! That would ruin not only his reputation but his plan.

The only good thing was that the clone was stopping the nuclear missiles from launching. It saved him the effort of stopping them himself, seriously humans where so trigger happy. Well most of them at least.

Donna was currently on a mission on the Sontarans' ship to get the teleports working and he knew she wasn't exactly happy about getting that task, but she would begrudgingly do it either way so he didn't have to worry about that. He would probably have to worry about getting a talking to about putting her in that situation later but he really couldn't be bothered about that, he had more important things on his mind.

_Namely Martha._

* * *

After UNIT had used the Valiant to clear the fog The Doctor was finally free to focus on getting Marhta back to him, well not to him but well to the world or whatever, he didn't really care about the proper terms he just needed to get his Martha back. Also, he really need to stop calling her his, she probably would have something to say about that if she knew that he thought like that. Not that it mattered right now, but still.

She might not know it but he was hers, had been for a very long time. He would do everything for her, she just had to ask. She barely did though and he knew that it was mostly because he had given her the idea that he didn't care, the other reason was that she was an independent woman who didn't need any help and could take on the world on her own. At least in her own eyes. Basically, she simply refused to ask for help if she needed it, not one of her best characteristics, he had to admit, but wasn't he the same? She had always helped when she felt that he needed to be helped, even if he was denying it, and most of those times he had actually needed help. However, he hadn't been doing the same for her, even though he knew that she needed it as well. Every time he had sensed that she needed help he hadn't done anything, he let the problem continue even if he could do something about it. He was afraid to damage there already fragile relationship or worse get closer to her and getting her hurt.

In hindsight, her living on the TARDIS had already caused her to be close enough to the fire that was his life to get burnt, so it wouldn't have mattered if he had been friendlier to her, she still would've been hurt. However, them being closer might've made things worse when they had been separated during the year that never was.

The Time Lord mentally sighed mentally shooking his head once again to clear it, it was no use to dwell on it now. Right now he had to save the woman who had caught his hearts.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver to find where they kept Martha.

"Alien technology, this way." He beckoned the clone to follow.

The signal brought them to the basement, which was deserted.

"No Sontarans down here. They can't resist a battle." He told the clone, though they probably knew that already.

He opened a door. "Here we go."

As he had expected this was indeed the spot where they kept Martha. And where they had put up a teleport, but that one wasn't nearly as important, in his mind at least. The Time Lord quickly ran to Martha's side.

"Ooh, Martha, I'm so sorry."  _And not just for this._ He checked her pulse. "Still alive." He had known that the Sontarans would need to keep her alive but to get it confirmed was still a relief to him.

He had forgotten about the Martha clone, well, at least until he heard the sound of a gun getting cocked.

 _Oh yeah, enemy clone._  He reminded himself with a mental wince as he temporary glanced back to the clone before turning his full attention back on Martha.

"Am I supposed to be impressed." He said, not very impressed at all.

"Wish you carried a gun now?" The clone asked.

"Not at all." He answered back calmly, still barely paying them attention.

"I've been stopping the nuclear launch all this time." The clone tried, hoping to get any reaction from him.

He finally turned away from Martha to face them. "Yeah,I know, but if you'd paid any attention, which I would've thought you would, you must've heard me clearly state that I didn't want them launched myself. I mean Earth starting a interstellar war? No thanks! You just saved me from having to stop the launch myself." He smiled briefly at the clone, who was still pointing a gun at him. He just ignored it and kept walking around. Frankly he didn't know how he was so calm with the clone, he still wanted to curse them for what they had done to Martha, but he wasn't quite out of the woods just yet, there was still a gun pointed at him. However, he knew he could never yell at the clone as they wouldn't survive for another 15 minutes after he had freed Martha, unless he messed up his plan terribly and the chances of that happening were very slim as he only needed to do one last thing.

"When did you know?" The clone asked.

"About you, Oh, right from the start. Reduced iris contraction. Slight thinning of the hair follicles on the left temple." He pointed at his own temple. "And, frankly, you smell. You might as well have worn a T-shirt saying 'clone'. Although, maybe not in front of Captain Jack, he'd have a field day." He stopped at the top of the holding bed with Martha on it and rested his arms on the sides of them. "You remember him, don't you? Cos you've got all her memories. That's why the Sontarans had to protect her, to keep you inside UNIT. Martha Jones is keeping you alive." He finished with a smile before pulling the device that was on Martha's head from her head.

She awoke with a scream, which tore at the Time Lord's heart, although he knew all was well now, well, at least almost.

The clone fell to the ground in agony at the same time as Martha awoke.

He quickly kicked the gun away out of the reach of the clone before releasing Martha from the bed and pulling her in a hug.

"It's alright. It's alright, I'm here, I'm here. I've got you, got you." He said comforting her.

"There was this thing, Doctor, this alien, with this head…" Martha began disoriented.

"Yeah, I know. I…" He began but he got interrupted when the mobile phone he had borrowed began ringing, he winced. "Oh! Blimey, I'm busy." He muttered before picking it up. "Got it?" He asked Donna.

* * *

While The Doctor was working on getting the teleport working again, he was aware of the conversation between Martha and her clone. Not something that you saw every day, but he didn't do normal so that was okay.

He didn't really want to intervene, knowing that this was something Martha most likely needed to get some piece about what happened today. But he needed information and got the answer he was looking for. The Sontarans were converting Earth into a breeding planet.

Just as he was about done with the teleport the clone died, he noticed Martha pulling her engagement ring from the clone's finger and he had to swallow a lump at that. He didn't have the right to be upset and he swore to himself to never show it but seeing the engagement ring was a painful reminder of how it could've been.

"Doctor." Donna's voice broke through his reverie. He quickly picked up the phone to listen to what his companion had to say.

* * *

They sat in silence in front of the teleport as they all processed what just had happened. The Doctor knew one thing for certain, both Martha and Donna were livid about the little stunt he just pulled. Neither had said anything yet, but he knew both of them well enough to know that neither of them would let it slide. He couldn't really blame them though, he wasn't quite happy about what he had nearly done himself. He had no idea what had come over him to make a decision like that, he had effectively signed his own death warrant when he went on that ship offering the Sontarans one last chance, while there had been options to give them a chance without jeopardizing his own health. There had been a chance of him to survive it nevertheless, with a regeneration though but still, he could've lived, unlike Luke who had made the decision to take The Time Lord's place effectively killing the boy, who didn't really do anything wrong, he had just been misguided. And maybe he was a bit full of himself.

The Time Lord sighed and stood himself up, it was time to get out and find the TARDIS.

He frowned at the thought, the TARDIS had still been aboard the Sontaran ship when it blew up, sure, his ship easily would survive something like that but it meant that at the moment he didn't quite know where she was, she could be anywhere on Earth. He was hoping though that she wasn't too far away, he didn't fancy travelling all over the world to find her, not to mention the terror of getting tickets and borders and ugh…

_No, he didn't fancy it at all._

He helped both Martha and Donna up.

"Come on, get up! We should probably get out of here and get back to the factory?" He asked Martha, who would probably know more than him on the subject.

She shrugged, though. "No idea, we should probably call the Colonel and ask where he wants us." She frowned, "Only I don't have my walkie talkie anymore. Nor my phone which has his number."

The Time Lord contemplated this.

"Why would you have his number?" He wondered.

"All Unit employees get it for emergencies," Martha answered. "I probably should've remembered the number, why."

He smiled slightly at her.

"Right, what is it you know that we don't, Dumbo?" Donna butted in.

In answer, he pulled out the phone he had borrowed from a  _UNIT soldier._

"How is a phone going to help us?" Martha asked sceptically.

"Better question, how do you even have a mobile phone, you broke yours?" Donna questioned.

"I borrowed it." He answered simply.

"And again what is the use of that phone now?!" Martha repeated.

"Well, I got hold of it just after that video call." He looked at Donna waiting for her to get it, he knew Martha wouldn't get it as she had been unconscious when that happened.

"Why would that….  _Oh!"_ The Doctor saw the penny drop.

"Got it?" He asked.

She spluttered before hitting him rather hard on the arm.

"Why didn't you just say so right away instead of being cryptic." She questioned him, not really angry.

"Just keeping you on your toes." He retorted back.

"Okay, okay, okay. Hang on!" Martha butted in. "Is either of you going to tell me what I've missed?"

"This idiot borrowed that phone from someone who works at UNIT," Donna said with an eye roll and another swat in the direction of the Time Lord.

"Oh yes." He confirmed, before handing the phone over to Martha, who only sent him a small glare for taking so long to explain before hurrying to call the Colonel.

As Martha was talking on the phone, The Doctor and Donna were just standing awkwardly next to each other, neither humanoid sure of what to say about the latest events.

"You know, you just agreed with me that you're an idiot," Donna stated.

"Yes, I did." He agreed unbothered before they lapsed into silence again.

They continued standing there, occasionally looking at each other sneakily. Their eyes had accidentally met five times, causing both of them to quickly look away again when Martha was done with her phone call and turned back to them.

"They want us at the UNIT headquarters, however, we have to get there on our own they can't spare anyone to pick us up." She told the two.

Both The Doctor and Donna nodded at that but Donna couldn't help but mutter "I thought they were willing to do anything for him."

Martha had to agree with her but pointed out that everyone was currently dealing with the aftermath of the gas.

"Anyway, we should probably start on our way or we'll still be here tomorrow." The Time Lord suggested.

Both women agreed with him and they quickly exited the manor.

* * *

They were barely off the manor's driveway when The Doctor started noticing that something was bothering Martha, she seemed to be wincing in what seemed to be pain every step she took so obviously something was hurting her. He looked down at her legs to check if there was anything visible that could cause this and indeed saw the problem rather quickly.

_She wasn't wearing any shoes._

The clone/Sontarans had stolen hers, and she obviously had already cut her feet in the small amount they had walked. Which made sense as the driveway hadn't exactly been clean, it had been littered with trinkets and bits for inventing.

The Doctor sighed wondering why she hadn't said anything about it, but he actually knew the answer, she was the type of person that would help anyone but would silently endure any discomfort themselves to not be a burden to others. If he was honest he was like that as well, but that wasn't the matter right now.

He decided to just speak up, he wasn't about to let Martha suffer for what looked to be a walk longer than 20 miles.

"Martha?" He caught her attention. "Are you planning to walk the whole way to the headquarters like this?"

"What do you mean?" She frowned, although he was pretty sure that she knew exactly what he was talking about. He just nodded towards her feet in answer, causing Donna to realise the problem as well.

"You're not wearing any shoes, doesn't that hurt? Why didn't you say anything!?" Donna questioned.

Martha shrugged. "Yeah, but what use would saying it have? It's not as if you can do something about it."

The Time Lord raised an eyebrow at that. "Really now?"

"There's no way you're carrying shoes my size with you in those pockets, are you," Martha questioned him, crossing her arms.

"No, not really." He scratched his head. "Still, there's something I can do, though."

"Then what…" She didn't get to finish her sentence before her alien friend was crouched in front of her with his back to her, obviously offering her a piggyback ride.

"There's no way you can carry me all the way." She objected.

"'Course I can." The Time Lord stated. "Now hop on."

"That's gonna cost you your back." Donna pointed out.

He just rolled his eyes at her. "It won't. Time Lords can take a bit more than humans can and this is perfectly within my limits."

Martha had to concede that The Doctor was indeed a lot stronger than she would've expected from a human with the same built, but she was still hesitant, not wanting him to injure himself over this. On the other hand, her feet were already killing her and they weren't even halfway there yet and well if he got an injury out of this, Donna and she could tease him with his own words.

"Right then, if you're sure." She said as she carefully climbed onto his back, hooking her legs across his narrow frame along with her arms so she wouldn't fall.

"Comfortable?" He asked.

"Yeah, you sure this is okay for you to do?" She asked once again.

"Yes, I'm sure," he confirmed one more time before he started walking once again, oddly content at the fact he was carrying Martha like this, but no one needed to know that.

Donna looked slightly amused at the couple before following the Time Lord in his tracks, he was totally in love with that girl, sure she had already known that but now she was actually seeing it, and it was pretty obvious that Martha still felt something for him, despite her earlier claims.

Nevertheless, she was still going to have words with a certain Time Lord about today's events and she had a feeling Marhta had something to say to him as well.


End file.
